European Degrees: What Students Study and Who Graduates

How Many Students Are in European Tertiary Education

According to Eurostat, the EU had 19.1 million tertiary education students in 2024. The vast majority - 73% - were studying in public institutions.

Women accounted for 54.9% of all tertiary students. Bachelor's and master's degree students together made up 88.3% of the total. The breakdown by level:

• Short-cycle tertiary courses: 7.9%
• Bachelor's degrees: 59%
• Master's degrees: 29.4%
• Doctoral degrees: 3.8%

What Subjects Do Students Choose

Business, administration and law was the most popular field, accounting for 21.9% of all tertiary students in 2024. The next two largest fields - health and welfare, and engineering, manufacturing and construction - each accounted for 14.7%. Arts and humanities attracted 11.1% of students.

The gender split across subjects is pronounced. In health and welfare, 72.7% of students were female. In engineering, manufacturing and construction, 72.2% were male. Among students of information and communication technologies, 79.1% were male. In education, 78.8% were female.

STEM Graduates: Trends and the Gender Gap

According to Eurostat, the number of STEM graduates in the EU relative to the population aged 20 to 29 increased over recent years - from 18.5 per 1,000 in 2014 to 22.4 per 1,000 in 2023. The gender gap in STEM remained wide in 2023: 29.0 men per 1,000 male inhabitants aged 20 to 29 graduated in these fields, compared with 15.5 women per 1,000 female inhabitants aged 20 to 29.

How Many People Graduate - and From Which Fields

In 2024, around 4.5 million students graduated from tertiary education across the EU. Eurostat notes this figure includes 2023 data for Czechia and Ireland.

France had the largest number of tertiary graduates at 885,100, ahead of Germany (635,300), Spain (590,500), Italy (543,800) and Poland (404,700). All other EU countries had fewer than 200,000 tertiary graduates.

Women made up 57.8% of all tertiary graduates. The ratio was highest at bachelor's and master's level: 143 women for every 100 men at bachelor's level, and 144 women for every 100 men at master's level.

By field, business, administration and law accounted for 25.1% of graduates. Health and welfare followed at 14.7%, then engineering, manufacturing and construction at 13.9%, arts and humanities at 9.7%, and social sciences, journalism and information at 9.6%.

Which Specific Degrees Are Most Common

At bachelor's level, management and administration produced the most graduates (230,900), followed by nursing and midwifery (109,000) and law (99,100).

At master's level, management and administration also led (147,500 graduates). Medicine was second (133,000), followed by law (106,400). Eurostat notes that in some EU countries, medicine and law are offered principally or exclusively as master's courses, which shapes these figures.

Country differences are notable. Poland had the highest combined share of bachelor's and master's students at 98.5%, while Spain had the lowest at 70.6%. Spain also led on short-cycle courses, with 25.3% of its tertiary students enrolled in them. Greece had the highest share of bachelor's degree students at 84%, while Luxembourg had the highest share of doctoral students at 12.6%. Germany had the largest absolute count of doctoral students at 204,900 - Eurostat notes this was more than twice the number in any other EU country.

The EU has set a target for 45% of people aged 25 to 34 to hold a tertiary qualification by 2030.